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Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea transfer news: The strikers each club want to sign this summer

They might not all agree on the best candidate, but these four clubs also appear to be looking at some of the same players expected to be on the upcoming transfer market.

Those include the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko, Victor Osimhen and Randal Kolo Muani – similar players in terms of their profiles, although not identical, and all in the same price bracket.

Then there are strikers like Liam Delap, Jonathan David and Matheus Cunha to think seriously about further down the market but with bags of ability and the potential to improve teams.

Sky Sports takes a closer look at the types of strikers these clubs are targeting ahead of next season and who might fit the bill, in a market of high demand but not much supply, especially at the top level.

The strikers Man Utd want this summer

Ideally, £72m Rasmus Hojlund would rediscover his scoring touch and lead the line for United next season but while he is still searching for form under Ruben Amorim, the club are looking at new striker options for the summer.

The prime name in the frame has been Viktor Gyokeres due to the Swede having thrived under Amorim at Sporting, and the Portuguese manager having promised not to poach any of his former Sporting players until at least this summer.

However, a lack of Champions League football at Old Trafford next season and Champions League clubs very much looking at him, including from the Premier League, means United are likely to have to look elsewhere.

The cost is also an issue. Although Sporting are thought to be willing to listen to listen to offers north of £55m, despite an £86m release clause, United will be reluctant to get into a bidding war.

Gyokeres is very much the profile though, so they will be looking at powerful, athletic presences up-front, with similarly high conversion rates, an aggressive mindset around the penalty area and still plenty of years ahead of them, albeit in a more affordable price band.

That could bring the likes of Benjamin Sesko and Randal Kolo Muani into play; two players Sky Sports News have mentioned with United in the past. Kolo Muani has been on loan at Juventus from PSG since January, when United and Tottenham also made inquiries for him, while Sesko has long been monitored by the club.

Sesko is interested as he has a sliding release clause currently set at £62m. There was the possibility he could have moved in January but his agent eventually came out and said he would commit himself to Leipzig for the rest of the season. This summer he is very much on the market.

Again, though, both players are likely to seek a Champions League suitor first, which will mean United have a difficult task to convince them to join and may need to seek a solution even further down the market. Ipswich hitman Liam Delap has been linked with them this week and, with the promoted club increasingly looking likely to go back down to the Championship, he presents a more affordable option.

They are not the only big club that like him, however.

The strikers Liverpool want this summer

Liverpool are also looking for someone athletic, fast and powerful to lead the line under Arne Slot next season, with Darwin Nunez’s future under a cloud. The Uruguay international has scored only five Premier League goals this term and started just eight times.

Not only do Liverpool want a player with a high scoring rate, but someone adept with the ball at their feet as well, to bring in the other forwards running in behind and beyond them, especially if Mo Salah recommits to the club. They have an overreliance on Salah and his goals, and need to reconfigure their attack.

The name that is repeatedly linked with Liverpool is Alexander Isak but Newcastle are determined to keep him, especially if they finish in a Champions League place themselves. They want him to sign a new contract and, regardless of anything else, he is expected to fetch a huge fee north of £100m.

Whether Liverpool are willing to part with that amount of money for a new striker remains to be seen and they will face competition from other clubs if a potential deal is in the offing. But Liverpool’s recruitment team wanted to sign Isak when Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders pushed instead for Nunez in 2022.

Victor Osimhen is another player Liverpool have admired for some time and a similar profile, and he is set to be back on the market again when his season-long loan at Fenerbahce ends and he returns to Napoli. He was not wanted there by Antonio Conte last summer and there is no reason why that position may have changed.

Osimhen has been keen to move to the Premier League but his valuation scuppered Chelsea’s attempts to get him last summer, as they pushed to try and find a solution right up until a dramatic deadline day conclusion. His value was also above £100m then, but that should have come down a little since, with just a year left on his Napoli deal.

Benjamin Sesko – also a similar profile – is also a player Liverpool have tracked for some time and admire, but would be more of a risk at just 22 years old.

The strikers Arsenal want this summer

Arsenal have been widely questioned by supporters and pundits for not signing a new striker either last summer or in January, with many believing it to have hit their title bid.

They have been tracking a number of strikers for some time but last summer and were said to have moved away from the likes of Alexander Isak and Ivan Toney, who moved to Saudi Arabia.

It was players like Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko, as well as Joshua Zirkzee, who signed for Manchester United, that were more seriously on their radar, and interestingly Gyokeres’ name has cropped up again in recent weeks.

Arsenal bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in January but it is understood that interest has cooled; deemed something that was very much based on the situation at the time, when Jhon Duran was still at Villa Park and his proposed move to Saudi Arabia was up in the air.

Arsenal are understood to now be looking for a younger centre-forward than the 29-year-old Watkins but that bid does point towards the type of dynamic striker they are looking for; someone equally as prolific with the ball at their feet, fashioning chances for themselves, as capitalising in the box.

Sesko is further reflection of that and he is also still in Arsenal’s thinking, as is Isak once again. Arsenal were also keeping an eye on Matheus Cunha’s situation in January, and he now has a £62m release clause in his new contract, recently stating publicly that he has made it clear to Wolves he wants a bigger club.

However, Cunha was previously signed for Atletico Madrid and then sold to Wolves by new Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta, so what impact that has on their interest remains to be seen.

Then there is Gyokeres. With Arsenal ready to spend big on players, Gyokeres comes into their thinking too, although non-Arsenal related sources have cast some doubt on his readiness for the Premier League.

Having played for a number of clubs in England already, scouts are well versed on the Sweden international, and it did not work out for him at Brighton. Concerns are around who Gyokeres has scored against, not necessarily how much he scores.

Gyokeres is far and away the best striker in the Portuguese league but there are only two or three other top sides for him to play against – the rest are a sizable drop in level.

In the Champions League – aside from a hat-trick including two penalties against Manchester City – he has scored against RB Leipzig, Lille and Sturm Graz. He did not score against Arsenal nor Borussia Dortmund nor Club Brugge nor PSV Eindhoven (not entirely his fault of course).

Arsenal will also look at wingers this summer and have an interest in Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams among others.

The strikers Chelsea want this summer

Chelsea have been pleased with the progress of Nicolas Jackson this season and now appear to be targeting a younger deputy for competition, rather than spending big on a new elite first-choice striker.

Last summer, it was all about players like Victor Osimhen, Ivan Toney and Samu Omorodion but, with Jackson’s encouraging development, in January they were monitoring the developments of younger players like Evan Ferguson at Brighton.

Their two sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have continued to look at younger options and are believed to be keen on the likes of Benjamin Sesko, Liam Delap and Jonathan David as we head into final leg of the season.

David will be a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of June and Chelsea have shown their willingness to capitalise on these situations before, signing Tosin on a free from Fulham last summer.

David has been busting the numbers in France in successive league campaigns at Lille and it has been surprising that no club has made a punt on him before now. He is still just 25.

According to Wyscout’s data rankings, he was the best-performing centre-forward behind Kylian Mbappe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last season and behind only Lionel Messi, Mbappe and Alexandre Lacazette in Ligue 1 the previous campaign.

This season in France he is the third-top scorer with 14 behind Ousmane Dembele (21) and Mason Greenwood (15), has the second-best xG at 14.62, and more than half of his shots on target (54 per cent).

He ought to be picked up by a club in the Premier League this summer but when compared with Delap and Sesko in the last calendar year, he has the best xG in all competitions (29.54 vs 23.43 vs 9.98) according to Wyscout’s data.

He also has the best conversion rate (27 per cent), best xAssist (8.43) rating and more accurate crosses. Sesko has the most shots on target (54 per cent) and most shots per90 (2.57) of the three.

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